Improvement in sleeping-cars



2 Sheets Sheetl.

c. LucAs. Sleeping-Gar.

5 7 .8 8 .L p e s d e .l n e t a P WITNESSES UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHRISTIAN E. LUCAS, OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO JOHN F. DIVINE, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE.

IMPROVEMENTDIN SLEEPING-CARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 168,098, dated September 28, 1875; application filed July 24, 1875.

To all whom it may concern! Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN E. LUCAS, of Atlanta, Georgia, have invented certain Improvements in Sleeping-Oars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and correct description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a top view or plan of a pair of sleeping-car seats having my improvements applied. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, one seat being shown in vertical section. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of one of the seats. Fig. 4 is a separate view of the swinging back. with its jointed cushion. Fig. 5 is a view of the jointed mattress.

The same letter indicates the same part Wherever it occurs in the drawings.

My invention consists in improvements in the construction and mode of operation of the seats of a sleeping-car, whereby they can be quickly and conveniently arranged for. use for day or night travel, as may be required, and have. when arranged for day travel, all the convenience of the ordinary day-cars, all as hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the drawings, A marks the floor of the car, and B the side of the same. 0 is the frame placed below the seat, which, if desired, may be boxed in to serve as a receptacle for the bedding, as well as a support to the sliding frame of the seat. D D are the arms, and E the framework of the seat. This frame is made so as to slide back and forth on top of frame 0, being guided at the inner end by a head or tongue, I), received by a groove in frame E, and at the other end by a tongue on that frame working in a groove on the inner edge of frame 0, as shown in Fig. 3. Pins 10, passing down through holes a a c c in frame E, into corresponding holes in O, serve to hold the seat-frame to the box-frame 0,'when the seats are in position for day travel. .Stops s 8 limit the backward movement of the seats, respectively, to the position proper for forming a berth of the required length for night travel. The swinging backF of the seat is formed with dovetail beads d on its edges, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, to receive a jointed cushion, having the two wings H H hinged to it at h h. The outer edges of the wings are beveled to correspond with the dovetails on the back F. This construction enables the cushion to be very readily inserted or removed. When the cushions are removed the space previously occupied by them is saved in the length of the berth.

With the seats thus constructed I use the folding mattress shown in Fig. 5, formed of longitudinal spring-slats, the middle section being long enough to reach between the extended seats and form a self-supporting berth.

The operation is obvious from the construction. The pins 19 being withdrawn, the seats are slid back till arrested by the stops 8 s. The back cushions are taken out and the mattress put in place, when the berth is ready for the reception of the bedding.

Having thus described my improvements,

what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of the bottom frame 0, seatframe E, beads 11 e, and stops 8 s, all constructed and arranged in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, with the back F, provided with the dovetail beads d, of the jointed cushion G H H, constructed as described, for the purpose stated.

The above specification of my said invention signed and witnessed at Washington, D. 0., this 21st day of April, A. D. 1875.

CHRISTIAN E. LUCAS.

Witnesses:

H. B. MUNN, GHAs. F. STANSBURY. 

